A Turkish court has accepted an indictment seeking prison sentences for 168 people who attempted to stage a demonstration in Istanbul last year to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the T24 news website reported.
According to the indictment accepted by the Istanbul 29th Criminal Court of First Instance, 161 women face up to three years in prison for “violating the law on meetings and demonstrations,” while seven are also charged with “resisting the police,” facing up to six years.
On November 25, 2024, the group attempted to hold a protest on İstiklal Street, the main pedestrian avenue in central İstanbul’s Taksim neighborhood. However, the police blocked the demonstration and used force and pepper spray to disperse the crowd. The activists then moved to Karaköy to read a press statement but were again met with police intervention. A total of 168 people were detained during the events.
The indictment names two police officers as complainants. One officer claimed to have been pushed to the ground, while the other reported an injury to their hand.
The increase in the number of violations of women’s rights in Turkey is alarming, with a rising number of femicide cases, bans on events organized by rights groups and detentions of women protesting gender-based violence.
The We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP) reported that 136 women were killed by men in the first six months of 2025, as well as 145 others who died under suspicious circumstances.
In a move that attracted national and international outrage, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used a presidential decree to withdraw the country from an international treaty in March 2021 that requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is an international accord designed to protect women’s rights and prevent domestic violence in societies and was opened to the signature of Council of Europe member states in 2011. Turkey had been a party to the convention until 2021.
Since the withdrawal, Erdoğan’s political allies have called for further rollbacks, including the repeal of Law No. 6284, which provides protective measures for women at risk of violence. Rights advocates warn that these moves signal a systematic dismantling of legal safeguards and a deepening hostility toward women’s rights activism.
